The present invention relates to a device utilized in stripping a bobbin (sometimes called a quill) after the bobbin has passed its operative position with respect to a loom.
Presently in extensive use in textile plants is a piece of equipment called a Unifil Winder which is made by the Leesona Corporation of Warwick, Rhode Island. This equipment performs a number of operations including a bobbin stripping function now to be described.
After most of the yarn is removed from a bobbin during the weaving process, a new bobbin is placed in cooperative relationship with the loom and the previous bobbin, containing a remnant of the yarn, is transported to a bobbin support assembly which holds the bobbin while the remnant is uncoiled from the bobbin. During the uncoiling operation, the yarn is pulled in a direction which tends to lift the bobbin out of its locked position in the support assembly. In the case where a snag in the remnant occurs, or where the yarn is impeded from uncoiling in some manner, the coiler exerts a great amount of pressure via the yarn on the bobbin. With existing bobbin support assemblies this pressure is often sufficient to cause the bobbin to be released from its locked position. When this occurs the released bobbin fouls the operation of the entire Unifil Winder and necessitates that this equipment and the loom be shut down until the jam is cleared. Obviously, such a situation is troublesome and costly.
It is the principal objective of the present invention to provide an improved locking arrangement for the bobbin support device associated with a Unifil Winder, the locking arrangement being sufficient to resist forces tending to pull the bobbin out of its locked position. With such a device the jamming problem is avoided and the entire remnant of yarn can be removed from the bobbin allowing a fully stripped bobbin to be returned for rewinding.